Police identify woman found dead in flooded area of Laurel

Anne Arundel County Police have released the name of a woman whose body was found in a flooded area of Laurel Thursday near a homeless camp.

The body of Anifa Kiwanuka, 26, was retrieved from waters that had risen due to overnight heavy rains, police said. Her cause of death has not been determined.

Anne Arundel County police and fire personnel found Kiwanauka's body about 11:25 a.m. near a wooded spot in a low-lying area near Route 198 and Racetrack Road.

Kiwanuka used services at the Grassroots Day Resource Center on U.S. 1, center manager Melinda Becker said.

Becker called the woman "very beautiful and sweet — just really lost," and said she was receiving addiction counseling.

"She was so tiny, and she looked very, very young," said Becker, adding that the woman appeared to be in her early 20s.

Becker said she had been scheduled to pick up the woman at 8 a.m. Thursday at a shopping center near the homeless camp, which is near the Laurel Park racetrack — to be assessed for in-patient treatment.